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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27273478">Do you think I am strong enough?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lesbian_fan/pseuds/Lesbian_fan'>Lesbian_fan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ava and Sara Normal Life AU [29]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ava Sharpe Needs a Hug, AvaLance, BAMF Sara Lance, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Sara Lance, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Endgame Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe, Established Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe, F/F, Homophobia, Hurt Ava Sharpe, Lesbian Ava Sharpe, Lesbian Character, Minor Violence, Past Abuse, Protective Sara Lance, Sexual Harassment, Soft Ava Sharpe, Soft Sara Lance, Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 04:21:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,951</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27273478</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lesbian_fan/pseuds/Lesbian_fan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ava gets some good news, laced with bad news. The girls go through somethings, how will it affect them?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Ava and Sara Normal Life AU [29]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892539</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>78</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Do you think I am strong enough?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Firstly, this is a long one! And people were asking for angst, so I'm supplying the angst!</p><p>Second, I have been working on this one for a while. I started it over a month ago, it had been one of my ideas when I initially started the series. </p><p>TW: Sexual Harassment, Violence, Homophobia, and Emotional Abuse</p><p>There is also a minor graphic description of violence, not blood.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">November 2019</span>
</p><p> </p><p>Ava had just published her first peer reviewed article since her dissertation a few months ago. Today she received a letter inviting her to come to an Animal Behavior Convention and give a speech. Ava is sitting on the couch with letter along with a bottle of scotch and an empty glass on the coffee table. Her head is in her hands.</p><p> </p><p>Sara walks in and drops her bags on the ground so she can go find her wife. The lights in the kitchen are on, so she checks in the kitchen first, then the living room. When she sees Ava and the alcohol she knows something is wrong so she quickly walks over to her wife. She kneels down in front of her in-between her legs and places her hands on the woman’s knees.</p><p> </p><p>“Baby, what’s wrong? What happened?” She asks rubbing her hand up and down the others thighs. She is still in her dress clothes from work, and it’s past midnight. Sara can smell the alcohol on her wife’s breath. “I got invited to give a talk at an Animal Behavior convention about my paper in January” she answers, she didn’t sound drunk so Sara was thankful for that.</p><p> </p><p>“Ava, that sounds amazing. Why are you so upset?” She asks confused about what the issue is. “I’m upset because, I can’t turn down this opportunity… it would be great for my career” that was all Ava said. “Babe, I’m still not seeing the problem! Please talk to me. Tell me what you’re thinking” Sara pushes for more information.</p><p> </p><p>Ava sighs and finally lifts her head and leans back against the couch. “The problem is… it’s in San Antonio Texas”. Realization spreads across the shorter woman’s face. “Oh Ava….” Sara moves of the floor to straddle the other girls hips. “Baby, you don’t have to go. If it ma…”</p><p> </p><p>Ava cuts her off, “Except I do Sara… If I turn down the first convention I am asked to speak at, I might never get asked again. Plus this would introduce my work to hundreds of other scientists. I have to go. I don’t have a choice”</p><p> </p><p>“Fine… I’ll go with you” Sara says moving to sit next to the tall blonde. “I won’t ask you to do that Sara” Ava says a little harsher than she intended. “You’re not asking I’m telling” the smaller girl says rubbing her hand over her wife’s thigh.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">January 2020</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Friday</span>
</p><p> </p><p>The plane ride was thankfully not very long. Ava was beyond anxious. She could not stop fidgeting on the trip. They got their bags, hailed a taxi, and made it into the hotel. It was a very fancy, the convention had paid for their hotel this weekend so they had no idea what kind of room they’d be staying in. They got checked in and the bell hop brought them up to there room. He unlocked the door and took his leave.</p><p> </p><p>They walk into the room and it is amazing. There is a huge bed, huge windows, high vaulted ceiling. The bathroom is fantastic a beautiful tub. Sara moves to the bed and finds a little card right in the middle. It reads ‘Welcome Dr. Lance and wife!’ she smiles down at it. “What?” Ava asks as she makes her way over.</p><p> </p><p>“This would work for either of us” she smiles even wider handing the card over to her wife. The tall blonde chuckles and sets the card down onto the desk. She then looks back up and Sara can see a playful glint in her eyes. She shoves the smaller girl hard on her shoulder so she falls back onto the bed with her eyes wide, surprised at the action.</p><p> </p><p>Ava climbs on top of her and starts placing kisses all over her face. Sara giggles and pulls the girl in closer. “As much as I like the sound of Dr. Lance and wife… Dr. and Dr. Lance is way sexier” She whispers into the smaller girls ear. “Yeah it is” Sara leans in for a kiss, but just as their lips touch Ava’s phone goes off. She lets out a small disgruntled huff. It’s a text.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Rachel: Hey Ava! Do you and Sara still want to get dinner and drinks with Emily and I tonight?</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Ava: Yeah absolutely! We can’t wait to meet her. We just checked in, maybe meet at 8pm for dinner?</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Rachel: Great, we can meet in the lobby.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Ava: We’ll see you then.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t wait to see Rachel and meet her girlfriend. It’s been too long since we’ve gotten together” Ava says lying flat on her back next to the girl. “Yeah the wedding right?” Sara asks rolling so her body is pressed against her wife and she’s propped on one elbow. “Yeah and before that… must have been two years”.</p><p> </p><p>The girls start getting ready since it’s already 6 and they want to shower off the gross airport feel. They start getting dressed for the evening and doing their hair.</p><p> </p><p>Sara is wearing tight black jeans, black combat boots, and an off-white crop top. Her hair is pulled back into French braids.</p><p> </p><p>Ava is in in similar black skinny jeans and boots, but she is wearing a dark purple button down. She had it buttoned all the way up, but when she walked by Sara she undid 4 buttons to show her bralette a little. The smaller girl bit her lip when she looked at the woman, who in return just rolled her eyes unable to control her smile.</p><p> </p><p>***************</p><p> </p><p>They had a really lovely dinner with the other couple, so they made their way to the bar across the street. There was room to dance and also to sit if they wanted to talk more.</p><p> </p><p>The group got drinks and talked for a but while finishing the drink. After they were done Sara dragged Ava out onto the dance floor. They danced for a little while. Emily and Rachel joined them for some time, but they decided to get more alcohol.</p><p> </p><p>The 4 of them found a table that they could stand around. Sara and Rachel went to go get drinks for everyone, and Emily went to the bathroom. Ava was just browsing on her phone when she heard someone say something behind her.</p><p> </p><p>She turned around and there was a man smiling at her, “Hi… I’m Trevor. What’s your name?” he asked. Being polite she answered “Ava” with a small polite smile that didn’t even reach her eyes. She immediately regretted it, because he stepped forward and placed his hand on her bicep. “That’s a great name. Why don’t you let me buy you a drink”.</p><p> </p><p>“No thank you. I already have a drink coming” she said still trying to be polite. All she could think was ‘Don’t escalate this. You’re in Texas’. “Oh come on… let’s get to know each other a little” he moved his hand from her arm to her waist and his other hand started to run along the collar of her button down. “No… really I’m fine. I don’t want to get a drink with you” she tries to shake his hands off. “You’re hot and I’d hate for such a sexy woman to spend her night without a man” his smile was vile and predatory.</p><p> </p><p>A shiver ran down her spine and she felt nauseous because of the way this man was touching her. His fingers that were on her collar started to brush across her chest moving quickly towards her breast. “Please don’t touch me. I don’t want to get a drink with you. I am married” she slightly more aggressive and still trying to shake his hands off but it wasn’t working. She was searching for an escape, but she didn’t see one.</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t see your husband around anywhere” he had both of his hands on Ava’s hips now and pulled her close. “I said don’t touch me” Ava raised her voice a little louder and tried to shove the man away from her, but he was strong and he didn’t budge.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey asshole! She said don’t touch her. So get the fuck off” Sara said grabbing the man’s wrist. She had seen them from across the bar and ran as fast as she could through the crowd. “This is none of your business. We’re having a nice chat. Enjoying ourselves” he jerked his hand away. Sara grabbed it again, “Except you’re not. She told you not to touch her. And yet… here you are”. He was clearly pissed about the interruption. “I said back off bitch. It’s none of your business” he yanked his hand away again, this time was a lot more difficult because Sara’s grip was tighter. When he broke free he placed it on Ava’s ass pulling her even closer so their bodies were pressed together. “Get off of me” Ava yelled.</p><p> </p><p>Sara grabbed the guys arm squeezing it hard. She pushes him back and steps in between them. “She told you not to touch her you perve. Now back the fuck up and leave my wife alone” the small blonde almost growls at the guy, who is way taller than her.</p><p> </p><p>He frowns at them and brushes himself off before spitting on Sara’s shoes. “Fucking dykes” he says before walking away. Sara lunges forward like she’s going to deck him in the face, but Ava stops her. “You can’t do that here Sara” the tall blonde says turning her wife around. “But he was touching you Aves” the smaller girl was confused.</p><p> </p><p>“I know but I am fine and this is not like home. We just have to let it go” the tall blonde says. The Rachel makes her way back to the table. “Ava… are you ok?” Rachel asks when she returns to the table having abandoned their drinks when she saw what was happening. “Ava I don’t understand. Why would we let this go? He touched you and then spit on us” Sara asks turning her wife to face her.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s too dangerous. This isn’t California baby. Please just trust me. I’m ok. He didn’t hurt me. You were here” Ava cups the small blonde’s cheek. “Ava’s right Sara, Texas is different. Let’s just go” Rachel says looking around for her girlfriend. As soon as they Emily the group leaves. Sara is deep in thought most of the way back. That doesn’t stop her from protectively holding onto Ava’s waist the entire walk.</p><p> </p><p>Sara grew up in Los Angeles. It had always, since she was alive at least, been very accepting. She moved to San Francisco for college, another very accepting place. Then to Portland, another gay friendly city. She thought about how she really had never experienced that before. She’d seen homophobia online of course, and heard hundreds of stories from friends. But being there, experiencing it first hand was different.</p><p> </p><p>When the girls return to their room Ava immediately begins to undress. She is exhausted. After her shirt is unbuttoned she turns around to see a tear running down her wife’s cheek. “Sara… what is it? Why are you crying?” Ava asks crossing to stand in front of the other girl. “I just… have never really experienced homophobia in person before. It was scary… I was so scared for you” Sara says placing her hands on the taller girls waist underneath the unbuttoned shirt.</p><p> </p><p>Ava shivers a little just being reminded about the incident and remembering how much this man had touched her. “I need to take a shower. I feel disgusting” Ava says casting her eyes to the floor. She misses the hurt expression flash across Sara’s face before she pulls away. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…” She starts to apologize thinking that her touch was what brought back the memory.</p><p> </p><p>“No… baby not you. Never you!” Ava says pulling the smaller girls hands back to her waist. Sara looks up at her, her vulnerability showing clear as day. Another tear rolls down her cheek. “Will you come with me?” Ava asks gripping the girls chin and angling her face up so she has to look at her. Ava continues when there is no answer, “Please, I want you to take a shower with me. I don’t want to be away from you right now”.</p><p> </p><p>After their shower they walk out of the bathroom in towels. They both discard them on the floor before moving to the bed. She pulls her in tight so Sara’s head is on her chest. “I never want to see someone touching you like that again” Sara says breaking the comfortable silence that hung over them. “I should have been there sooner” she says burring her face farther into the girls neck. “Hey… no… don’t do that! You were there that’s all that matter… And even if you weren’t it’s not your fault that guy was such a dick” Ava says trying to reassure her wife.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve just… never experienced homophobia before. And it was just an extra layer of awful that was added to that guys being an absolute creep” Sara whispers. “I know. It is scary, but it’s ok. We’re both ok. I know that it is really frustrating and disheartening to see it and experience it first-hand. But, that wasn’t that bad. It could have been so much worse ok?” Ava explains trying to help the smaller woman feel better. But now all she can think about how Ava must have had some truly awful experiences that she has never talked about if what happened tonight wasn’t that bad. Ava runs her fingers through the smaller girls hair to sooth her as they drift off.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Saturday</span>
</p><p> </p><p>Other than the incident at the bar the weekend has been going pretty good. Ava has her talk on Sunday morning, and they are just coming and going from the convention catching the talks that they want to see. The nice thing about Sara being a doctor is that she had to take quite a few biology classes herself, even ones that were strictly about non-humans, so she understands most of what is happening.</p><p> </p><p>The couple is walking through the lobby of their hotel hand in hand after lunch, they are heading towards the hotel’s convention hall. They are discussing the talk that Ava is very excited to go see. They each have a huge smile on their face as they continue the light conversation. They hear someone call, “Ava?”.</p><p> </p><p>A lot of her peers are here, and a lot of people have read her paper, so it wasn’t uncommon during the weekend to get people coming up to them and talking. Before Ava turned around their was a small pang in the pit of her stomach. She turned around and instantly froze with her jaw clenched.</p><p> </p><p>When Sara turned to see who called out for Ava she saw 4 people looking at them two men and two women. The looked familiar, but she just couldn’t place them, she must have seen them at the convention earlier. She had a soft smile on her face that faded when looked up and she saw Ava’s reaction.</p><p> </p><p>“Ava what’s going on? Who are they?” She asked quietly trying not to let them hear her. They were standing about 15 feet away from them, so a whisper worked fine. When the tall blonde didn’t answer or even look at her she tried again, this time not caring if they heard her.</p><p> </p><p>“Babe, what’s happening? Are you ok?” She asks still holding onto Ava’s hand with her right hand, but she moved her left hand to rub on her bicep to try and get her attention. Sara had missed the reactions on the faces of the strangers because she was to focused on Ava. At the use of the word ‘Babe’ the older man looked quickly between the two women and then down at their joined hands and scoffed.</p><p> </p><p>Sara was beginning to feel like this was some weird staring contest. No one was moving or saying anything. This time she pulled on her wife’s arm to get her attention. “Hey” She said softly. Ava finally looked towards the smaller blonde and just blinked a few times. She swallowed hard, clenched her jaw and then spoke. “Sara, these are my parents, and my brother and sister.” The small blonde eyes widened and she turned to look at the group of people again, suddenly realizing why they looked familiar. Sara using a lot of will power to not just go at them guns blazing. She needed to follow’s Ava’s lead on this. She needed to see how Ava would react.</p><p> </p><p>“What are you doing here Ava? I thought you moved.” The older woman spoke. In the most non caring emotionless voice Sara had ever heard the tall girl answered, “I was invited to do a talk at the convention here this weekend.” The older man scoffs. “I didn’t realize they started inviting people just because they are dykes to give talks.” He said digging in on the word ‘dyke’. The older woman slaps the man on the arm and whispers harshly, “Randy”.</p><p> </p><p>Sara felt her hand get squeezed on that word, and she felt so much rage for how these people continue to hurt the woman that she loves.</p><p> </p><p>The younger boy, apparently Ava’s brother, speaks up seemingly trying to cut through the tension. “Maybe we should get dinner with Ava, you know catch up. It’s been so long” he says directing it at the younger girl. “Yeah” She says turning to look at her mom, “I think that Brandon is right”.</p><p> </p><p>The older woman puts on a forced smile, “Yes… that’s a great idea. We would love to have you and your… friend join us for dinner Ava”. She pauses awkwardly before insinuating that they were no more than friends, which infuriated Sara to no other. But it wasn’t her place to speak up.</p><p> </p><p>“My wife. Sara is my wife” Ava says in the same emotionless voice she used earlier. The small blonde was not expecting that, her head snapped to look at the woman next to her. She could see the old man’s jaw clench at the word ‘wife’ before she turned her head.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you say Ava? Will you and your friend be joining us for dinner?” the woman asks way to chipper for the situation they are in. Ava repeats herself. “My wife. Sara is my wife” she speaks calmly. The four standing across from them all seemed shocked that Ava was talking back like this. She then takes a deep breath and rushes out “I don’t know, we’ll see” as she starts to drag Sara toward the elevator, the opposite way they were going before this happened. “If you decide to join, meet us at the hotel restaurant at 8” the woman calls after them.</p><p> </p><p>All the way up the elevator ride they stand silent just holding hands staring straight ahead. They make it into their room and Ava walks into the room and is standing near the bed when Sara closes the door behind her. As soon as Sara turns around and their eyes meet the tall blonde collapses to the ground on her hands and knees.</p><p> </p><p>The sob that comes out of the woman is excruciating. Sara runs quickly to her wife, she manages to get her up and somewhat into her lap so she can hold her. The taller woman is curled into her wife with her fists gripping the shirt for dear life. Ava’s chest is heaving so hard. Sob after sob is coming out of her and she is struggling to breath. She quickly stands up and runs to the bathroom. She throws up, still crying, it seems like her body is just trying to get rid of some of the pain because it’s too much for one person to handle.</p><p> </p><p>Sara desperately wants to be able to take the pain away from the girl. But since she can’t she cleans Ava up a little she helps her back to the bed. Before they lay down again Sara takes Ava’s shoes off and begins to take off the rest of her clothes. Ava knows exactly what her wife is doing.</p><p> </p><p>When Ava is in just a bra and underwear Sara gets her situated under the covers before stripping down into just her underwear, she hadn’t worn a bra that day, but it wasn’t a huge deal. This was her wife.</p><p> </p><p>Sara climbs into bed and just holds the other woman while she cries. Ava’s head is tucked under her chin and her arms are wrapped around her so tight it felt like the taller woman thinks she might float away. Sara is scratching her wife’s scalp with her right hand and rubbing her lower back with her left. Ava seems to be trying to calm herself by caressing Sara’s skin too. Her left hand is just under her breast, and she is rubbing her thumb back and forth. Her right hand is on the smaller blonde’s hip, with her thumb rubbing similarly to the other hand.</p><p> </p><p>They lay like this for close to 4 hours, until Ava is all out of tears. Sara talks a little bit about random things, but Ava stays silent the entire time. They take a shower together once Ava feels she is strong enough to stand. After they get out of the shower Sara moves to the bedroom in her towel and leaves Ava in the bathroom to dry her hair. She pulls out her phone to text Laurel.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Sara: I fucked up Laurel!!!!</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Sara: I don’t know what to do!!!</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel: What happened?</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Sara: I pushed Ava to come here because I knew it would be good for her career. </strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Sara: But we just ran into Ava’s parents and siblings in the lobby of our hotel!</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel: It’s not your fault, you had no way of knowing, and this is really good for her career. Holy shit though! What happened? Is she ok?</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Sara: Her dad called her a dyke, they kept referring to me as her friend, they invited us to dinner, Ava threw up when we got to the room, and then she cried for 4 hours.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel: I… wow! I don’t know what to say. How did she react when you were with them?</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Sara: Honestly it was a little scary! She turned into this emotionless almost robotic person. She was staring daggers and held her jaw clenched tight. </strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel: What about like with you though? Did it seem like she was shying away from you?</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Sara: No! We continued to hold hands through the entire interaction. She corrected them both times they called me her friend and said ‘she’s my wife’.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel: Wow, that takes guts. It sounds like she has come a long way since that scared little kid they saw last. Maybe it’s good that they saw her so stoic. </strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Sara: Good for who?</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Laurel: Just be there for her Sara. You are her rock and she needs you more than ever. Just follow her lead, and do whatever she wants to do. </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Ava exits the bathroom in her towel with hair dried. She stands in front of her wife and speaks up, “I am going to dinner with my parents”. This was not what she was expecting. “Ok” is all Sara can say. “I don’t expect you to sit through this, so you don’t have to go. I’ll just go alone.”</p><p> </p><p>“Absolutely not Ava!” Sara says standing up from her position on the bed. “I want to be there for you. For better or for worse remember?” She smiles a sad smile at the taller woman. Ava pulls her forward and into a kiss. Sara walks her back into the wall. Ava deepens the kiss and slides her tongue into the other girl’s mouth. There really wasn’t anything sexual about the kiss. It was just them pouring all of their love into one another. It was a comfort for Ava. It was a comfort for both of them.</p><p> </p><p>When Ava pulls back she is still holding onto her wife’s jaw. The press their foreheads together and close their eyes, “I love you so much Sara”. The taller girl pulls the other into a tight hug. Where Sara’s head ends up, her lips are pressed against her wife’s neck. She places a kiss there and replies, “I love you too”</p><p> </p><p>They discuss what to talk about and what not to talk about at dinner. Ava tells Sara that if they ask any questions about her just answer however she feels comfortable. If they ask questions about their relationship she’s going to let Ava take it. Ava says for the most part she’s just going to be honest. She palms her wife’s cheek in order to look into her eyes and convey how certain she was about this. Ava speaks in a strong and confident voice, “I am not ashamed of you, my life, or my sexuality anymore. The only thing is I don’t want them to know where we live, the state is fine, but that’s all”.</p><p> </p><p>Sara leans in and gives the girl a quick kiss “I am so incredibly proud of you” she says. They start getting ready for the dinner. Sara is wearing the most modest thing she brought, that is still dressy. She wasn’t really planning on a ‘Meet the Parents: Homophobic Family Edition’ so it’s not the best, but it’s what she has.</p><p> </p><p>Her dress is a deep red color and is about mid-thigh length. You can really see her thigh muscles in this dress. And with the strappy shoes she has on, her legs are on full display. It is synched around the waist with a flowy skirt. It’s a little low cut, but nothing too bad. Her cleavage looks so good in this dress though. There are thin straps that wrap around the top of her shoulders. You can clearly see her well defined shoulder and arm muscles with the cut of the dress. Ava smiles, for the first time since they saw her parents earlier in the day, when she sees her wife that dress.</p><p> </p><p>The taller blonde comes up behind the other woman, who is standing facing the mirror, and wraps her arms around her waist and placing a kiss behind her ear before moving her lips to whisper directly in her ear, “God, you look so fucking hot in that dress baby” which sends a shiver down the smaller girls spine. “It’s such a shame you have to waste this dress on them. Hopefully you’ll intimidate them a little” at that Sara jokingly flexed all her muscles.</p><p> </p><p>The taller girl just stared at her through the mirror with her mouth hanging open a little. Earlier when they met she was wearing skinny jeans and a long sleeve blouse, so they defiantly haven’t seen all her impressive muscles yet. Ava is simply wearing some nice slacks, a nice short sleeve dress shirt, and dress shoes. Ava had a lot more dress clothes packed that she could choose from since she is presenting at the conference.</p><p> </p><p>At 7:50 the couple step onto the elevator to make their way down to the restaurant. “Remember, whenever you want to leave, we’ll leave” Sara says reassuring her. Ava just nods and laces their fingers together placing a kiss on the back of her hand. When they get to the restaurant both of Ava’s siblings are surprised to see them there. Everyone is looking wide eyed at the shorter woman, clearly shocked about just how ripped she is, and probably also at how attractive she is. All Ava could think and that they would be even more shocked if they saw her wife’s abs.</p><p> </p><p> Ava’s brother seems to be ogling Sara, doing a once over on her body, and it was making her a little uncomfortable. You could tell that everyone was thinking the same thing, ‘she’s so pretty why is she married to Ava? She could have any guy’.</p><p> </p><p>That makes her angry, because if she can see it, so can Ava, and they have no right to make her feel like she isn’t deserving of the whole entire world. They are seated and it is instantly very uncomfortably silent. Luckily the waiter comes to take everyone’s drink order. Samantha, Ava’s sister decides to break the silence that settled in as soon as the waiter takes the order. “So Sara what do you do for a living? You’re very fit, I’m guessing athletic trainer?”</p><p> </p><p>Sara smiles a little at the question, “No actually… I’m a doctor, an orthopedic surgeon”. Everyone’s eyes widen a little and look at her again and then just sort of nod a little, except Pam, Ava’s mom, she seems a little too impressed. “Wow! That is impressive, you must be smart.” Sara just shrugs a little, it’s super awkward, “I guess”.</p><p> </p><p>Pam decides to keep talking. “I remember Brandon wanted to be a doctor” Sara decides to roll with it just to stave off the silence. “What do you do instead Brandon?” She asks as polite as she can. “Uhh… I work at Walmart” Sara has no idea how to respond so she just nods and turns her attention to Samantha. “What about you Samantha? What do you do for work?” The younger girl just smiles, “Oh, I don’t work. I live with our parents. But I’ll be getting married soon so I’ll just be a wife then.” Sara’s eyes go wide but she quickly fixes her expression and nods again seeming to realize that there was nowhere else to go with that conversation.</p><p> </p><p>Samantha decides to try and continue a little. “So what do Orthopedic surgeons do?”, she thinks for a minute trying to find a way to describe it without getting too graphic for the dinner table. “A lot of joint replacements, fixing tendons and ligaments, we set bones a lot when people break them too”. This time it’s Ava’s brother that speaks up. “So you give old people new joints?”, he looks unimpressed. “Actually my specialty is in people who lead very active lifestyles and need to continue that after the recovery. I work with a lot of professional dancers, marathon runners, and other athletes” at this he finally looks to be mildly interested. But he says quiet.</p><p> </p><p>The silence hits and everyone can feel it. Pam decides to start up a different conversation. “So Ava, did you ever finish your bachelor’s degree? What was it in? Some science?” It takes all Sara has not to smile at the ridiculous conversation. Ava blinks a few times. “Yeah… in 2009. I have a PhD actually, I’m a professor. I teach biology.”</p><p> </p><p>Sara looks over at her wife and smiles a little, she is so impressed with how she is handling everything. “Oh shit, I guess she was the smart one after all.” The boy says with a chuckle. The old man has not said a single thing since they sat down. He just closes his eyes at the comment his son made.</p><p> </p><p>“So where are you living now Ava? Do you have roommates? Or do you live alone?” Her questioned was phrased as if those were the only two options. Both the girls are shocked. Had they not understood that Sara is her wife? Did they think it was a lie? Ava takes this question. “No roommates, Sara and I own a house in Oregon, where we live, together”</p><p> </p><p>“So you do have a roommate then” the old man speaks up for the first time this evening but not taking his eyes off the table. Ava turns to him and spits, “No Randy, Sara and I are married. She is my wife not my roommate.” This seems to set him off. “So let me ask you this Sara. You are an attractive girl, clearly, you are too pretty to be a lesbian. Why would you chose that? Why would you choose Ava?”</p><p> </p><p>Sara is floored at how many things are wrong with that. Not to mention the subtle dig at her wife. “Couple things” She says looking directly at the older man, “First, sexuality isn’t a choice. I didn’t chose it, I was born this way. Second, there are plenty attractive women who are lesbians” She seems to emphasize her point by taking Ava’s hand. “And lastly, I’m not a lesbian. I’m bisexual… I like both men and women” She continues to explain further when they all seem lost as to what bisexual is. Randy scoffs, “Well why the hell would you marry a woman… let alone Ava… when you could live a normal life and marry a man and have a family?” he spits out.</p><p> </p><p>Sara is struggling to keep her calm at the continuing insult to Ava, “I have a normal life. I live with my wife in an amazing house. We have friends. We both have very prestigious jobs. Ava is my family… But most importantly, I didn’t marry a man because I’m not in love with a man. I’m in live with Ava.” She squeezes the her hand around Ava’s. They make eye contact and the tall blonde has a soft smile on her face.</p><p> </p><p>While they are looking at each other Randy shoots back, “I don’t know how the hell you could fall in love with a useless dyke like <em>that</em>” he finishes by pointing at Ava and scoffing. Sara see’s the hurt and pain flash in Ava’s eyes before she steels up and clenches her jaw. Sara cannot handle it, she can handle the small insults that are less forward and the big ones directed at her. But he took it too far and she can’t keep her anger in anymore.</p><p> </p><p>“Do NOT call my wife that derogatory term. Do not EVER speak to her like that again.” She says staring daggers at the man. The hand not gripped in Ava’s is clenched in a fist. Her muscles are flexing, and you can tell that she is angry. She looks like she was going to leap across the table and snap that man’s neck. The rest of the table was shocked at the sudden shift in her demeanor.</p><p> </p><p>Ava was looking at her with the softest expression. Like she didn’t see the rage bubbling up out of her, or like she didn’t care. Everyone seems to be fairly frightened of the smaller blonde, but not Ava. “She’s my daughter, I can call her whatever the fuck I want. You don’t know anything about her”.</p><p> </p><p>Her voice was even harder and louder this time. “No Randy, she’s not your daughter. You gave that up the day you kicked her out, on the street, at 17”. Both of Ava’s siblings heads snap up at that. “Mom… you said she left” Sam says frowning at her mother. Pam seems to be really upset at the way Sara has shifted and how her other daughter is speaking. “Ava Sharpe, are you going to sit there and allow your friend to speak to your father that way”</p><p> </p><p>Ava turns to her mother, “That is not my name anymore. My name is Ava Lance. I took my wife’s last name since mine has no significance, and hers connects us to her family. And yes I will let my… WIFE… talk to Randy that way” She stands up and Sara takes this as a sign that they are leaving and stands up to leave as well. Before they go Ava adds, “It’s about time someone did”. They start walking towards the door, and everyone in the restaurant is staring at them. The customers and wait staff alike.</p><p> </p><p>The conversation had gotten pretty loud, so neither of them are surprised. Before they can make it more than 5 steps from the table Ava is stopped by Randy who is pulling her back by her wrist, gripping it hard, clearly causing pain. “Ava, you cannot…” Randy is interrupted by the smaller woman stepping between the two.</p><p> </p><p>Sara is seething. She is seeing red, she has never been more angry at someone in her entire life. This is now the second time, in two days, that someone has touched her wife without consent. And she is about to lose all of her control. She feels like there are flames coming out of her nostrils and fire in her eyes. “Take your FUCKING hands off my wife” Sara just about growls at him.</p><p> </p><p>When he makes no move to release the taller girl she grabs his thumb and pulls it back hard, she feels a pop, meaning that she dislocated it. He releases his grip on Ava with a scream of pain and with one more sharp pull the man is on his knees screaming. Sara’s face is stoic, she is clearly scaring the shit out of everyone in Ava’s family. Hell, probably everyone in the restaurant.</p><p> </p><p>“You should listen when I say something. Are you listening to me now?” When he doesn’t answer she pulls back just a little more, “Fuck… Yes I’m listening”. She has to hold back a smile at how quickly he went from a big scary man to a cry baby.</p><p> </p><p>“You will NEVER touch her again. And if you do, I will personally see to it that it is the last thing you ever do”. She knows that she shouldn’t be threatening him at all, let alone in a public place where there are most defiantly people listening. But she can’t help it, he has hurt Ava over and over. She couldn’t stand by and watch anymore.  She releases him just before the police show up. It seems that someone had called the cops sometime during the fight assuming that it would get physical.</p><p> </p><p>The police are stepping in between everyone to separate them. One cop grabs Sara and pulls her hands behind her back before throwing the hand cuffs on her. He then walks her away from Ava not knowing who the victims were and who the assailants were. Ava starts to panic a little, she doesn’t want her to get in trouble for protecting her. “No, no, no, no! You can’t arrest her. She didn’t do anything wrong, it was self-defense” Ava is yelling at the cop trying to get closer, but being held back a different officer.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly the manager steps forward, “Wait, I’m the one who called, that woman was just protecting her wife. That man grabbed her. Look at her wrist he could have broken it”. There was a large bruise forming on Ava’s wrist fast, Sara hadn’t seen it before this second and all she wants to do is pull her into a hug. The cop looks at Sara, “That’s your wife? And that man was hurting her?” Sara nods. He looks at Ava, “She’s your wife?” confirming with her. “Yes” Ava says. He unlocks the cuffs and releases her.</p><p> </p><p>Sara surges forward closing the distance, almost running into Ava to pull her close. “Baby, are you ok?” she says loud enough that everyone probably heard. “I’m ok Sara, I’m ok” Ava says reassuring the smaller blonde. The whole restaurant is watching them, she is speaking only to her wife, but she doesn’t care who hears. “I will never let him hurt you again. I promise. I love you baby, I’m so sorry”. They continue embracing for a long time. Sara not wanting to let her go after the situation that just happened.</p><p> </p><p>Finally they pull away a little and many people are still watching the touching interaction. “Let me see” she says in a soft gentle voice. It is a stark contrast to the voice everyone heard when she was speaking to Ava’s father. She is gently holding her wife’s arm examining it to make sure it is not broken. A police officer comes over with a medic, “He’s going to check to make sure your wrist isn’t injured more than just bruising”. Sara is still in protective mode and doesn’t step away from her wife. “It’s not” She says glaring at them. The two men look back at her with eyebrows raised. “It’s ok. I’m ok. She’s a doctor and she just looked at it” Ava says explain to the men with a smile.</p><p> </p><p>“We’ll take an ice pack though, if we’re going to have to be here for a while.” Sara says trying to force herself to calm down a little. “Here” The manager says bringing a bag of ice to them. The cop and the EMT leave feeling that everything is handled here. The manager lingers for a second, “You guys seem like a good couple. Really protective of each other”.</p><p> </p><p>The two women don’t really know what to say, sometimes comments like this can turn into weird or gross conversations. Sara doesn’t think she can handle one more bad thing happening to Ava on this trip. She relaxes considerably when he continues, “You remind me of my husband” he says looking at Sara. Ava smiles at him.</p><p> </p><p>Sara places the ice onto Ava’s wrist and they move into the lobby of the hotel so they can call Laurel. “Ava” someone calls her name. She looks up and it is Dr. Bellan, her advisor from her PhD program and Rachel. They are standing in the lobby. She knew that he was coming to this conference, and she saw Rachel last night, but she hadn’t expected to see either of them tonight.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“We were at dinner with one of the other professors that was here at the conference. He got a text from his graduate student, who is in there for dinner tonight. The student said ‘Some guy is screaming and attacking Dr. Lance’. He recognized you from your picture that is on the speaker introduction sheet. So we came straight here” Rachel says walking up and hugging Ava, “I was so worried”</p><p> </p><p>They move to a place where they could sit and talk for a minute. Dr. Bellan’s husband is there, and so is Rachel’s girlfriend, Emily. The six of them sit down and the two blonde’s explain what happened. Dr. Bellan, his husband, and Rachel already know about Ava’s relationship with her family. After the two women assure them that they are both fine the four leave to head to their rooms for the night, after arranging to have breakfast in the morning before Ava’s presentation.</p><p> </p><p>They get on the phone with Laurel and Sara explains what happened. The older Lance sister first checks to make sure that Ava is ok. She also decides to conference in Quentin. He is the chief of police in L.A. so he can help them make their decision. They inform the girls that really all they have to do is decide whether or not they want to press charges.</p><p> </p><p>Together they decide that it wouldn’t do Ava any good. But that she should inform them that she wants to file for a restraining order. Laurel agrees to help since it can be a little trickier when they live in different states. She assures them that with all of the witnesses and the police responding and seeing the injury that it will get approved.</p><p> </p><p>Ava next voices her concern for Sara and to possibility of her getting in trouble because she dislocated his thumb and threatened him. Both of the Lance’s on the phone tell them that Sara has every right to defend Ava with the amount of force she used. And that since he initiated the attack it was very unlikely that the threat would be an issue. After they hang up Sara receives a text from Laurel</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Laurel: Good job baby sister! Keep protecting her, you did good.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Sara: I will always protect her Laurel.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Sara: Always!</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Eventually a cop comes by to get their statement and to ask if they were going to be pressing charges. They inform the cop that they will not be pressing charges, but that they want to get a restraining order against Randy Sharpe.</p><p> </p><p>By the time they make it back to their room it is past midnight. They are both exhausted. As Ava is trying to take of her shoes she winces and pulls her wrist up to her chest holding it. “Is it your wrist? Let me see” Sara says kneeling in front of the other woman and examines her more closely. “It might be sprained, or the bruising could just be causing the pain. In any case I want you to wear a brace for the next few days” she finishes talking and places a kiss to her wife’s hand. “I’ll go to the pharmacy and get one” She says standing up.</p><p> </p><p>“No… please don’t go” Ava says tears forming in her eyes. “You really need to wear a brace tonight, so it doesn’t get worse” Sara pleads with the woman to let her go. “Sara…” the taller blonde pleads back.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine… give me your phone” She says holding out her hand. “Why?” Ava asks even though she is already handing over the phone. Sara doesn’t answer, she just sends a few texts.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Ava: Hey Rachel, its Sara. I just wanted to see if you could do me a huge favor.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Rachel: Absolutely! Anything!</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Ava: Could you run to the pharmacy and get Ava a wrist brace? It looks like it’s worse than I originally thought.</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Rachel: Of course! I’ll go now. What’s your room number?</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Ava: 532</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>Ava: Thank you!</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry I didn’t let the EMT look at you. He probably would have given you a brace. I was sort of stuck in ‘protect you from everyone’ mode” Sara says as she helps Ava out of her dress clothes. “That’s ok. I didn’t want anyone else touching me anyway. I would have refused if you didn’t” Ava reassures the smaller girl as she steps out of her dress. Sara changes into a pair of sleep shorts and then puts on one of the robes that the hotel provides. Ava changes into a tank top and shorts. She wants to go to bed, but Sara won’t let her.</p><p> </p><p>There is a knock at the door and Ava jumps at the sound and is immediately scared. “Hey it’s ok. It’s just Rachel, she went and got you a brace” she says palming the girls cheek and leaning in for a kiss before moving to open the door.</p><p> </p><p>Rachel and Emily walk into the room, with a lot more than just a brace. “Ok, so we got a brace, arnica, an ice pack, chocolate, and alcohol” Rachel says throwing everything onto the bed as she takes it out of the bag. Sara smiles softly at her. “Ok, Rachel why don’t you crack us open some beer while I fix up Ava”</p><p> </p><p>They talk and drink while Sara applies the ointment and wraps her wife’s wrist. She then breaks the disposable icepack open causing the chemical reaction that cools down the liquid inside. She places it on Ava’s wrist and goes to open the chocolate. After about 30 minutes, at almost 2am Rachel and Emily leave.</p><p> </p><p>Ava takes off her tank top and then the two women get into bed in only their shorts. They are laying facing each other when Sara reaches out to take the injured wrist. She is placing gentle kisses all around it. “I am so sorry that he hurt you” Sara says with her lips still brushing against the wrap, so the tall blonde can’t feel it.</p><p> </p><p>Ava just shakes her head and places her other hand on the back of the Sara’s neck pulling her forward. With their lips almost touching Ava whispers, “Not your fault. You protected me today Sara. You make me feel safe… you have always made me feel safe. Because I know you got me”.</p><p> </p><p>The taller girl captures the lips of the other woman in a kiss. She licks her tongue across Sara’s lips asking for permission. When she opens her mouth the two women run their tongue’s all over inside each other’s mouth exploring. It’s not a desperate kiss, but it’s not, not sexual.</p><p> </p><p>When they finally pull apart Ava notices that Sara is crying, so she moves to rest her head on her wife’s chest. She places her injured arm on top of the girl’s body. She whispers against the other girls skin, “I’m ok baby. You protected me Sara. I promise that I am ok”.</p><p> </p><p>Sara holds her close, closer than she usually does, because tonight really scared her. She knew Ava’s family was bad. But she didn’t realize they were this bad. She could never have imagined this. She just wants to stop anyone from hurting her wife ever again.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u">Sunday</span>
</p><p> </p><p>In the morning Ava wakes up to Sara sitting leaning against the headboard staring off into space runner her fingers through her hair absentmindedly. “Morning” the tall blonde whispers to get her wife’s attention. “Hey baby” Sara says smiling at her. She maneuvers so she is lying down facing the other woman. “Are you ready for your presentation today?” she asks pushing the hair out of Ava’s face. “Yeah. I’m looking forward to getting breakfast with Dr. Bellan and his husband, and also seeing Rachel and Emily again” she said rolling over to get out of bed.</p><p> </p><p>Sara moves around the bed and starts to unwrap the brace on her wife’s wrist. “You’re going to take care of me?” The tall blonde asks looking up at the woman standing in front of her. “Only if you’ll let me” Sara says stopping her movements to check in. “I’ll always let you” she says placing her uninjured hand on the girls waist and leaning her forehead into her abdomen.</p><p> </p><p>After a minute Sara continues to remove the brace, when it was off she checked to bruise again, checking to make sure the swelling hadn’t gotten too bad. Sara could feel tears collecting in her eyes when Ava winces at her light touch. The injury is so much worse than last night. It’s turning purple and she’s furious that she couldn’t prevent it. She goes into the bathroom to grab the arnica. She applies it before wrapping Ava’s wrist back up and helping her get ready for the day.</p><p> </p><p>They met for breakfast and discussed Ava’s presentation. Dr. Bellan checked in that she was ok, he could tell how upset she was last night.</p><p> </p><p>Ava’s presentation went well. Sara was sitting in the audience with a huge smile on her face the entire time. She was so proud of her wife, even though the weekend had been awful, she still did a phenomenal job on her speech.</p><p> </p><p>As Ava was leaving the stage she looked up and saw her sister Samantha standing by the door. People were filing out of the room and Ava made her way over to the girl standing by the door. It was fairly empty now, “What do you want Sam?” she asked her face stern and emotionless crossing her arms to put up a barrier between them. “Is that from dad?” She asked her voice soft, pointing at the brace on her sister’s wrist. Ava shifted uncomfortably and put the arm behind her back. “Yes” she replied. Sara walked up and grabbed her hand, the uninjured one, and asked, “Are you ok babe?”. She turned her gaze from her wife to the other girls and she glared at her.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m fine” Ava answers turning to make eye contact with the girl, “Please stay”. Sam looks surprised, “Oh. I was hoping to speak with you alone Ava”.</p><p> </p><p>“Whatever you need to say to can say in front of my wife. She knows everything that happened” the tall blonde frowned. There was an uncomfortable silence that sat between them before Sam spoke up.</p><p> </p><p>“I just wanted you to know that Brandon and I didn’t know you got kicked out… they told us you left” She says looking down at her shoes suddenly uncomfortable that she decided to come here. “And I just wanted you to know that I didn’t know… and it’s not an excuse. I just… If you ever feel like talking or anything… you can call me. I still have the same number as before”.</p><p> </p><p>There was a heavy silence that hung in the air for a few moments. She looked up into Ava’s stone cold eyes and gave her a sad smile, “Goodbye Ava. I’m really happy you seem to have found your people. And that you have Sara” and with that the girl walks away.</p><p> </p><p>Ava collects her things and her and Sara make it upstairs to their room. “I don’t know how to feel” the tall blonde says turning around to look at her wife once they made their way into their room. “You should feel however you feel. A lot has happened this weekend baby. You’ve gotta give yourself time to process it” the smaller girl says placing her hand on her neck pulling her closer.</p><p> </p><p>Ava leaned down and capture her wife’s lips for a kiss. Sliding her tongue across her lips before Sara opened granting permission. Ava works her way into Sara’s mouth. Her tongue slides against the other girls, humming at the feeling and the closeness. After several minutes of kissing they separated to catch their breath, resting their foreheads together. Ava though about how crazy it was to have this amazing, beautiful, strong woman by her side to love her. She knew that this made her the luckiest person, and she just pulled her closer because she didn’t want any space between their bodies.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ava has been through a lot, and her running into her family now that she's all settled and comfortable with herself really showed them that they can't fuck with her anymore. She is powerful, she has supportive friends, and she has Sara.</p><p>Also please let me know if I missed any trigger warning. I want to make sure that everyone is comfortable reading my work!</p><p>I hope you liked it. Let me know your suggestions, ideas, and thoughts in the comments. Also come hangout on Twitter with me, let’s be friends. My handle is @Lesbianfan1 <br/>Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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